As anyone who's excitedly clapped ears on underchieving albums celebrating the influence of artists such as The Smiths ("How Soon Is Now"?) and Gang Of Four ("Return The Gift") will know, 'tribute' LPS can be frustrating affairs veering from iffy to downright pathetic. At best, they make you want to hear the originals and at worst they make you weep copiously at the folly of even attempting to scrape fingernails across the surface of unimpeachable Godlike genius.
And, bearing in mind the transcendent brilliance father and son TIM and JEFF BUCKLEY achieved during their cruelly curtailed careers, the very idea of current day artists recasting this rare and elusive loveliness in their own images is enough to incite apoplexy in this traumatised reviewer.
But stick around, because "Dream Brother: The Songs Of Tim & Jeff Buckley" somehow clambers onto that unassailable pedestal known as the 'excellent tribute album' by presenting us with 13 truly heartfelt, inventive versions of some of the world's most remarkable songs and escapes pretty much unscathed as well.
Admittedly, some perspective is required at this point. No, nothing on "Dream Brother..." actually goes as far as to transcend the original design, so you can hold your horses on that score. Yet, the array of respected new talent on the scene (THE MAGIC NUMBERS, MICAH P.HINSON, SUFJAN STEVENS, STEPHEN FRETWELL, KING CREOSOTE) is impressive, as is the bravery and skill most of the participants conjure in remoulding these amazing songs in their own inimitible ways.
You begin to suspect you might just be onto a good thing as early as the opening track: a pretty, hugely melodious version of Tim's "Sing A Song For You" (originally his jazz/folk classic "Happy Sad"s concluding track) as supplied by hirsute indie heroes THE MAGIC NUMBERS. It's winsome and sublime and very much the deep blue downside of Romeo and co's perpetual summer.
OK, so we'll grudgingly allow that, you initially think, but when MICAH P.HINSON re-invents Jeff's "Yard Of Blonde Girls" - originally a frazzled and slightly tongue-in-cheek rocker - into a fabulous country-folk two step with droll vocals and plunking, Doug Dillard-style banjo and SUFJAN STEVENS emphasises the delicate beauty of Tim's gorgeous "She Is", it begins to dawn on you that you're in the presence of something surprisingly special.
And so it - mostly - continues, with ADEM proving his own gymnastic vocal skill on an acrobatic, but stark acoustic take of Jeff's "Mojo Pin" and Lancs/ Tex-Mex heroes THE EARLIES bathing us in the dreamy and soulful elixir that is their version of Tim's "I Must Have Been Blind". Both of these are top-drawer, but are arguably usurped by KING CREOSOTE'S utterly inspired reading of Jeff's flight-of-fancy classic "Grace". It's hard to imagine this spectral song working with just folky guitar and gypsy accordion spurring it on, but the dark, dirgelike folk of Kenny Anderson's take brings out all sorts of subtle nuances you'd missed with the original, and in his capable hands it's really a remarkable achievement.
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Naturally, the bubble has to burst eventually, and certainly you could happily lance three of the tracks if it was up to your reviewer. OK, KATHRYN WILLIAMS' folky background gives her some credibility in tackling Tim's "Buzzin' Fly", but her faithful version is a bit twee and lightweight when set against the phenomenal take SIOBHAN PARR turned in on her debut album last year, while BITMAP merely prove it's impossible to outspook the alchemical chills of Jeff's "Dream Brother" and ENGINEERS fall down miserably with a dreary, shoe-gazey take of Tim's "Song To The Siren." Actually, they're on a hiding to nothing here because: 1) after THIS MORTAL COIL'S transcendent version from 1984 it can only pale and: 2) it's arguably Tim Buckley's greatest song of all anyway, so why waste your breath?
But even these rise above sounding like monumental dog's dinners, and if you persevere (and you should) you'll also discover further treasures like the fragile intimacy of STEPHEN FRETWELL'S "Morning Theft" (surely one of the most under-rated gems in Jeff's canon); TUNNG turning Tim's baroque 1967 Vietnam commentary "No Man Can Find The War" into a folksy, backwoods beauty and CLAYHILL's Gavin Clark sliding his tremulously melancholic tonsils all around an ominously out-there version of Tim's "The River", which taps into the avant-garde otherworldliness of Buckley Snr's middle-period better than anything else here.
OK, the purist will probably still harbour grievances ( for example, no-one tackles anything from Tim's under-rated funky latter years) but by and large "Dream Brother..." is one of the best 'tribute' albums this jaded scribbler has clapped ears on in recent years and - bearing in mind the unearthly beauty of the originals - that's saying something.
So there you go. "Dream Brother..." is an impressive labour of love and an album to be cherished on its' own terms. Who says wonders have ceased in this modern age?
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